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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION 2

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Docket No: PF13-16-000 5

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ALCONQUIN INCREMENTAL MARKET PROJECT 7

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Kelly Middle School 9

25 Manhan Drive 10

Norwich, CT 06360 11

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013 13

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The public scoping meeting, pursuant to notice, 15

convened at 7 p.m., Doug Sipe chair of the scoping meeting. 16

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LIST OF PUBLIC SPEAKERS 1

DOUG SIPE, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman 2

JIM LUSKAY 3

MAGGIE SUTER 4

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P R O C E E D I N G S 1

MR. SIPE: Good evening guys. This is a big 2

place for a small audience, right. Anyhow, good evening on 3

behalf of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, I would 4

like to welcome you here tonight. This is a scoping meeting 5

for the Alconquin Incremental Market Project, known as the 6

AIM Project, proposed by Alconquin Gas Transmission LLC, 7

referred to Alconquin, an indirect subsidiary of Spectra 8

Energy Corp. 9

Let the record show that the public scoping meeting in 10

Norwich, Connecticut began at 7:08 pm, Wednesday, October 11

7th. 12

The primary purpose of this meeting is to provide 13

you with the opportunity to comment on the record and for us 14

to provide you with some information about the project and 15

about FERC and who we are, but really it's for you guys to 16

let us know to this point what your comments are on the 17

project. 18

My name is Douglas Sipe, I am the Outreach 19

Manager at FERC, to my right is Maggie Suter, she is the 20

Environmental Project Manager. In the back at the sign-in 21

table where you guys came in is Jennifer Lee and Stu 22

Buchanan. They are with NRG, they are a, well NRG I always 23

refer to them as a natural resource group, a consulting 24

firm. They are assisting us in the environmental 25

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documentation behind this proposal. 1

So you guys probably got an agenda when you 2

walked in and the agenda is basically, we are going to give 3

you an overview of FERC. We are going to ask the company to 4

give an overview of the project and then you guys will get 5

the opportunity to ask some questions to us, okay. 6

With that I will let you know who FERC is. The 7

FERC is an independent agency, it regulates the interstate 8

transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. FERC 9

reviews proposals and authorizes construction of the 10

interstate natural gas pipelines, storage facilities and 11

liquefied natural gas terminals, as well as the licensing 12

inspection of hydro-electrical projects. 13

As a federal licensing agency, the FERC has 14

responsibility under the National Environmental Policy Act 15

to consider the potential environmental impact associated 16

with this project which is under consideration. 17

With regard to the Algonquin AIM Project, the 18

FERC is the lead federal agency, with that all this week we 19

have had inner agency meetings with state, we tried to have 20

some meetings with some federal agencies, which actually we 21

did on Tuesday, we were able to meet with the Corp in 22

Manhattan on Tuesday, but today we had some inner agency 23

meetings where federal agencies couldn't be present because 24

of the shutdown. 25

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We are not, FERC is not affected by the shutdown 1

at this moment but we could be if it continues. If Congress 2

doesn't decide what they want to do, all right. But with 3

that we try to work with other agencies as much as we can 4

and we ask those agencies to be cooperating with us on the 5

federal side and on the state side and sometimes on the 6

local side, all right. 7

The agencies hopefully will use the environmental 8

document that we prepare as their own environmental 9

documentation for the project. As I said earlier, the 10

primary purpose of this meeting tonight is to give you the 11

opportunity to comment on the project or on the 12

environmental issues that you would like to see covered in 13

the EIS. It will help us most if your comments are as 14

specific as possible regarding the potential impact and the 15

reasonable alternatives of this project. 16

Now with saying that, we understand that this is 17

early on in the process, okay. You guys may have attended 18

some open houses or some informational meetings that the 19

company has had. FERC attended the open houses. This is 20

now we are at the stage where we are going to scoping 21

meetings. The Company has only given us a little bit of 22

information, where they have given us basically two resource 23

reports, so there is not a lot to comment on besides the 24

information the Company gave you or the information found on 25

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the docket, but you guys live here, the Company has 1

hopefully talked to you by now, you know enough about the 2

project maybe you can give us some comments and will assist 3

us tonight. 4

It is also designed as you saw when you walked in 5

that Alconquin was here at 6 o'clock, we put that in the 6

Notice of Intent to have maps out and such and Alconquin has 7

staff here that was able, hopefully able to answer your 8

questions when you walked in, show you the route, show you 9

how it goes across your property if you are affected. 10

So let me go into the environmental review of 11

FERC and then after that I am going to give Alconquin an 12

opportunity to give you guys a demonstration of their 13

project. 14

The flowchart we have, now do you guys have the 15

NOI? Did you receive this? Does it look like this from 16

FERC did you receive this from us? Okay well in that NOI 17

let me show you, see if you were closer you could see this. 18

There is a flowchart, okay it looks like that it's the same 19

flowchart we have in the back of the room, okay when you 20

walked in by the signing table. 21

It kind of shows you what FERC had done to this 22

point and what the Company has done to this point and what's 23

coming after this okay. We have kind of a you are here type 24

of, well it's not in the NOI itself, but the you are here 25

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thing is in the back on that flowchart. Right now we are at 1

the scoping meeting so you can see what we have left to do, 2

okay if you follow this flowchart and you can see what the 3

company has left to do, all right. 4

With that I can give you that Algonquin entered 5

the pre-filing process on June 28, 2013 which began our 6

review of the facilities and what we refer to as the AIM 7

project. The purpose of the pre-filing process is to 8

encourage early involvement by all interested stakeholders. 9

The definition of a stakeholder is anybody that has interest 10

in this project, okay it doesn't have to cross your property 11

or you don't have to be abutting to this facility to have 12

interest in this project and you can be a stakeholder, okay. 13

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And also the pre-filing process allows for early 15

identification and resolution of issues okay. As of today 16

no formal application has been filed by Algonquin, okay 17

that's going to come they are telling us in February of next 18

year so we don't have a formal application yet filed with 19

them, okay. However, FERC and the other agencies have begun 20

the review of the project in this pre-filing process. 21

So on September 13th we issued this NOI to the 22

mailing list. The mailing list comes from the company and 23

then we add the mailers and such, the comment letters that 24

we get, we add mailing addresses to it, we add agencies to 25

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it so the mailing list is under constant revision so if you 1

didn't get this, which I think everyone will nod their head 2

that they did. I apologize about that but the mailing list 3

is under constant revision and we try to keep up with it. 4

So it initiated the scoping period, the scoping 5

or comment period will end on October l4, 2013 during our 6

review of the project we will assemble information from a 7

variety of sources including Algonquin, the public, other 8

state, local and federal agencies and our own independent 9

analysis and field work. We will analyze this information 10

to prepare a draft EIS that will be distributed to the 11

public for comment. 12

So the open houses that I talked about earlier 13

that the Company had during that time period what we did is 14

we would walk the site, we looked at a lot of the route by 15

driving back and forth, getting out on the right-of-way 16

itself. We flew it in a helicopter, okay, that was open 17

houses were a month or so ago and now at this point we are 18

holding scoping meetings and we have agency meetings this 19

week so the project keeps moving forward along with our 20

process keeps moving forward. 21

I will note that the October l4th date, that's 22

just the initial closing of the initial scoping period. 23

CEQ, Council Environment Quality requires us to open, under 24

NEPA they require you to open a scoping period and close it. 25

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For this project we chose thirty days, that's the initial 1

scoping comment period okay. At FERC we take comments from 2

the beginning of pre-filing the whole way up until they file 3

the application and then after they file the application we 4

continue to take public comments. 5

The reason why we open and close it so early in 6

this process is we want early comments so we can have a good 7

application by the Company. Once we have a good application 8

by the Company that provides us the opportunity to have a 9

better environmental document to put on the street for the 10

public review. 11

Okay so once scoping is finished, again there is 12

kind of two scoping periods, once scoping is finished our 13

next step is to begin to analyze the company's proposals and 14

the issues that have been identified during that scoping 15

period. This will include an examination of the proposed 16

facility locations as well as the alternative sites. 17

We will assess the project's effects on water 18

bodies, wetlands, vegetation, wildlife, endangered species, 19

culture resources, soils, land use, air quality, safety and 20

all state quarter comments that can in to that point. When 21

complete with that analysis, after the Company files the 22

application, we will prepare a draft EIS. The EIS is 23

usually pretty thick in nature, it's like a phonebook almost 24

it has a lot of information in it. That's our analysis of 25

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the company's application that's filed, okay. 1

And once we prepare that draft EIS, we will put a 2

forty-five day comment period on that, so you will receive 3

that and then you will have forty-five days to comment. All 4

state quarters have forty-five days to comment, okay. After 5

making any necessary changes or additional to the draft EIS, 6

a final EIS will be mailed to any interested parties. So 7

basically you will receive two documents, all right. 8

Note that the mailing list for this project is 9

pretty large, I can see that there is three of you here 10

tonight, but note that the mailing list is pretty large and 11

on the back of this NOI, on this form, you will see the 12

basically if you want a hard copy version of that EIS, you 13

need to tell us and send this form back. At this point you 14

are only going to receive a CD of that EIS because of the 15

mailing costs associated with those phonebook type of 16

documents, okay, but if you want a hard copy just let us 17

know, you just have to mail that form back in all right. 18

As I mentioned earlier the issuance of the NOI 19

opened the formal comment period that will close October 20

14th. The NOI encouraged you to submit your comments as 21

soon as possible. It gives us time to analyze and research 22

the issues, all right. Again you may have not had that much 23

to say, that specific to say at this point but anything you 24

say here tonight, or send in to us will be used in that. 25

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FERC does encourage electronic filing of comments 1

and all other documents, there's a small brochure actually 2

we don't have that I'm catching myself. On our website, 3

www.FERC.gov you can go to the e-filing link and we 4

encourage electronic filing of comments and you can see how 5

to file electronically. There are also directions on how to 6

do that in the NOI. 7

It's very important if you sent comments, either 8

electronically or traditionally by mail or if you handwrite 9

them here tonight they include our Docket Number, the Docket 10

Number for this Project is PF13-16. PF stands for 11

pre-filing. Once a Company files an application that number 12

will change to a CP number, it will stand for Certificate 13

Proceeding. All right, and I will note that it doesn't 14

matter how we receive your comments, yes we encourage 15

electronic filing because it is easier but you can mail 16

them, you can write them here tonight, you can give them 17

here to these microphones here in a second, all comments are 18

treated equally, it doesn't matter how they are given. 19

So I would like to explain the roles of the FERC 20

Commission and the FERC environmental staff. The 21

five-member FERC Commission is responsible for making a 22

determination of whether to issue a Certificate of Public 23

Convenience and Necessity to the Applicant. In this case it 24

is Algonquin, the EIS prepared by the FERC environmental 25

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staff which we are a part of, describes the project 1

facilities, and associated environmental impacts, 2

alternatives of project, mitigation to avoid or reduce 3

impacts and our conclusions and recommendations. 4

The EIS that you will receive is not a decisional 5

document. It is being prepared and disclosed to the public 6

and to the Commission, the environmental impact of 7

constructing, operating the proposed project. When it is 8

completed, the Commission will consider the environmental 9

information from the EIS along with the non-environmental 10

issues, such as engineering, markets and rates, in making 11

the decision to approve or deny Algonquin's request for a 12

certificate. 13

There is no review of FERC's decisions by the 14

President or Congress maintaining FERC's independence as a 15

regulatory agency and providing for fair, unbiased 16

decisions. So before we start taking your comments, I have 17

asked Algonquin to provide a brief overview of the proposed 18

project, Mr. Jim Luskay from Algonquin will do that for you 19

now. 20

MR. LUSKAY: Thank you Doug. Good evening 21

everyone. My name is Jim Luskay I am the regional project 22

director for Spectra Energy for the Northeastern United 23

States and thank you for the opportunity to address you this 24

evening. The real value for us in these sessions is to hear 25

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any comments or concerns you have on the project and also to 1

begin to mitigate any concerns you might have or answer any 2

questions that you have so right now I would like to go 3

through and spend a few minutes, tell you a little bit about 4

the project and certainly afterwards if you have any follow 5

up questions we would be happy to talk to you about it. I 6

hope that you find your time here tonight valuable as well 7

and again thank you for coming. 8

Spectra Energy has served customers and 9

communities in North America for more than a century. The 10

company develops and operates natural gas liquids and crude 11

oil pipelines. Additionally the company gathers and 12

processes natural gas, stores it and distributes it. 13

Spectra Energy's assets include Algonquin Transmission, LLC, 14

known as Algonquin, an interstate pipeline system that has 15

been operating safety for sixty years in this area. It 16

transports up to 2.44 billion cubic feet per day of natural 17

gas from major supply basins into New Jersey, New York and 18

throughout New England. 19

The Algonquin system included eleven hundred and 20

twenty miles of various size pipelines extending from 21

Lambertville, New Jersey to New York, Connecticut, Rhode 22

Island and Massachusetts. The system includes mainlines, 23

laterals and thirty-five miles of offshore pipeline from 24

Weymouth, Massachusetts to Beverly, Massachusetts referred 25

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to as a hub line. 1

The Algonquin system connects with Spectra 2

Energies Texas Eastern Transmission System in Lambertville, 3

New Jersey and also with the Maritimes and Northeast 4

Pipeline, majority owned by Spectra Energy in Spectra, 5

Massachusetts. By regulation, Algonquin is an open access 6

pipeline that must transport natural gas on a 7

non-discriminatory basis. 8

We will talk a little bit about the purpose and 9

need of the project. As Doug has mentioned, currently 10

Algonquin is participating in the Federal Regulatory Energy 11

Commission's pre-filing process for a proposed expansion 12

called the Algonquin Incremental Market Project or AIM 13

Project. The AIM Project will expand Algonquin's existing 14

pipeline system in order to transport and additional 342,000 15

dekatherms per day of natural gas from an inner-connected 16

Ramapo, New York into the Northeast. The increased capacity 17

offered by the AIM Project will allow abundant domestically 18

produced natural gas supplies to flow reliable into 19

Northeast markets. 20

These secure cost effective supplies will help 21

meet the region's current demand as well as future growth 22

for clean burning natural gas. Here in Connecticut, the AIM 23

Project is consistent with the objectives of the Connecticut 24

Department of Energy, environmental protections, 25

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comprehensive energy strategy that "proposed to make gas 1

available to as many as 300,000 additional Connecticut homes 2

and businesses." 3

In addition, the investment new natural gas 4

pipeline infrastructure such as the AIM Project will lead to 5

savings in energy cost. A report by the Concentric Energy 6

Advisors concludes that "the direct benefit of the New 7

England infrastructure is estimated to range from 8

approximately 243 to 315 million in annual cost savings." 9

Open seasons were held in September through 10

November of 2012 and in June of this year. An open season 11

is a process where potential customers express an interest 12

in participating in a pipeline expansion project that will 13

provide them with access to pipeline capacity. How much 14

they request is based on their projected needs. 15

The accumulation of all of the participating 16

customer requirements is what determines the scope of the 17

project and what facilities will need to be built to serve 18

their demand. As the development of the project evolves, 19

the volumes committed to the customers, by the customers and 20

resulting scope does change. Currently our scope is for the 21

previously mentioned 342,000 dekatherms per day and we have 22

executed precedent agreements with the following companies: 23

UIL Holdings which includes the location distribution 24

companies, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Natural Gas, 25

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Northeast Utilities which includes the local distribution 1

companies, Yankee Gas Services Company and Enstar Gas 2

Company, National Grid which includes the local distribution 3

companies, Narragansett, Colonial and Boston Gas, Nisource 4

Inc. which includes the local distribution company Bay State 5

Gas Company and we are also in the negotiations and about to 6

finalize our precedent agreement with the City of Norwich, 7

Department of Utilities as well. 8

As far as the schedule, in February and March of 9

this year we began contacting landowners and federal and 10

state and local officials to introduce the project and begin 11

to gather feedback on proposal facilities and locations. 12

With FERC's approval, we began the pre-filing process in 13

June as Doug had noted. From April through September we 14

hosted fifteen voluntary landowner informational meetings 15

and ten public open houses in New York, Connecticut, Rhode 16

Island and Massachusetts. 17

Meeting notifications were sent out to directly 18

impacted landowners and abutters. Contact was made with 19

local officials and for the public open houses, ads were 20

placed in local papers. This is the fourth such meeting 21

held in this area write around here. The meetings provide 22

an opportunity for people to learn more about the AIM 23

Project, let us know how the proposed facility may impact 24

them and to begin discussions on how impacts may be 25

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mitigated. 1

We expect to complete the FERC pre-filing process 2

and submit a Certificate Application to FERC in February of 3

2014. We hope that FERC will issue a Draft Environmental 4

Impact Statement in July of 2014 which will include the 5

comments received at these public scoping meetings and 6

throughout the scoping period. 7

We will ask FERC to approve the AIM Project by 8

January 2015. This will allow us to begin construction in 9

the second quarter of 2015 and construction will be 10

scheduled over a two year period in order to manage pipeline 11

outages. We anticipate placing the AIM Project fully into 12

service by November 1st of 2016. As I mentioned the scope 13

of the projects, I will go into a little bit more detail on 14

that. 15

As the AIM Project is moved forward we have 16

revised the facilities to align them with the needs of our 17

customers. And for the overall project, what we are looking 18

at is proposing to construct approximately 21.7 miles of 19

various segments of mainline, primarily by the removal and 20

replacement or looping of existing lines, including 1.2 21

miles of new pipeline to be installed beneath the Hudson 22

River in New York at one of two potential locations 23

utilizing the horizontal directional drill crossing method. 24

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We are also proposing to construct approximately 1

15.3 miles of lateral pipeline, either by removal and 2

replacement or looping of existing lines and expansion that 3

includes 4.8 miles of new 16 inch and 24 inch pipeline 4

laterals. We propose to have six new compressor units for a 5

total of 72,240 additional horsepower at five existing 6

compressor stations. 7

Construct three new meter stations and modify 8

existing meter stations. In an effort to minimize impact 9

the proposal facilities are located primarily within 10

existing rights-of-way or at existing Company facilities. 11

Currently along the entire proposed route, there are 440 12

directly impacted landowners, 928 abutting landowners and 13

351 landowners within half of a mile of existing compressor 14

stations. 15

Now more specifically the scope in the area that 16

we are talking about here today, um, which is essentially 17

the Eastern side of Connecticut into Rhode Island is to 18

construct 2.1 miles with thirty-six inch diameter pipeline 19

loop, placed parallel to the existing pipeline from the 20

existing Cromwell Compressor Station located in Cromwell, 21

Connecticut to the Connecticut River. 22

And for those that are near our pipeline, you 23

probably are aware of the facilities that are near you. In 24

general what we have in Eastern Connecticut, we have a main 25

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line and a loop, a 24 and a 30 that run through that 1

Northeastern part of the state and then we have our E system 2

that comes down off of that which comes down as 12, 16 all 3

the way down to 3 inch pipes, so we are going to be putting 4

an additional line in where we have the 24 and 30 loop 5

coming out of Cromwell up to the Connecticut River and then 6

the work on the E system is about 9.1 miles of our existing 7

6 inch we are going to replace it with 16 inch diameter 8

pipeline and that's in the towns of Lebanon, Franklin and 9

Norwich, Connecticut. 10

We will also be constructing about 1.4 miles of 11

12 inch diameter loop placed parallel to the existing 12

pipeline and the El system in town of Montville. We propose 13

to add compression and make modifications to the Cromwell 14

Compressor Station. Add compression and make modifications 15

to the Chaplain Compressor Station, located in Chaplain, 16

Connecticut and add compression and make modifications to 17

the Burillville Compressor Station which is located in 18

Burillville, Rhode Island. 19

We also propose to construct a new meter station 20

here in Norwich and make modifications to existing meter 21

stations in Connecticut. In closing, we would like to thank 22

the landowners, the public officials, regulatory agencies 23

and other interested parties who have offered their guidance 24

and input as we develop the AIM Project. 25

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We are certain that the information we received 1

throughout the pre-filing process will help us design, 2

construct and operate and efficient and environmentally 3

responsible expansion of the Algonquin system. Thank you 4

again for your time. Thank you, Doug. 5

MR. SIPE: Thank you Jim, after the meeting 6

concludes the maps are still out so if you guys have any 7

questions for Algonquin, their staff is here to answer some 8

questions for you, they will show you anything on their 9

maps. 10

So now is where I begin the important part, 11

really why we are all here tonight, okay, is to get some 12

comments from you guys or some questions from you guys. We 13

do have, this is being transcribed by a court reporter so 14

when you come up and ask the questions or give your comments 15

and it has to be in one of the mics. Please when you come 16

up, spell your name, state your name and spell your name for 17

the record and then you should be good to go. One thing, 18

also, this is being recorded like I said, there will be a 19

transcript of this meeting, okay, so it will be available 20

online in approximately probably ten days from the end of 21

this week I would say, okay. 22

Well due to the length of the speaker's list I 23

have I ask you to limit your comments, I'm just kidding by 24

the way. I don't have a speaker's list so at this point 25

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it's up to you guys if you guys want to get up here and ask 1

any questions or say anything on the record it is your time. 2

If you don't want to say anything on the record and you want 3

to talk to FERC's staff I can close the formal part and we 4

can just have a discussion it's up to you guys. 5

I see some discussion going on. The gentleman 6

here won't even look at me, see that. We understand that 7

you may not have prepared statements or prepared questions 8

but if you have anything you want to put on the record as 9

comments, that's totally fine. I understand this beautiful 10

room we are in here tonight is kind of intimidating right, 11

at least you are not on a stage, which that's what they put 12

out sometimes, on a stage that looks great right, the rest 13

of the people are down here. 14

All right guys you got your information what you need, going 15

once, going twice and again we are going to be here, it's 16

not like I'm going to close this and run out of the room. I 17

am a little hungry but I'll stick around for a little bit. 18

Okay, the formal part of this meeting will conclude. On 19

behalf of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission I would 20

like to thank you for coming tonight. Let the record show 21

that the AIM Project scoping meeting in Norwich, Connecticut 22

concluded at 7:35 p.m. Thanks. 23

(Whereupon at 7:35 p.m. the scoping meeting 24

adjourned.) 25